I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

The clever among you quickly deduced that I’m knitting a Clapotis. I made a scarf-sized Clapotis last year, but this is my first full-size version. I guess that makes me the last knitter on earth to knit up this pattern.

The knitting part is done and now I’m just debating whether to block it or leave it.

Even if I decide to block it, I won’t be doing it any time soon since I’ve recently had another episode of BPPV. So bending over a blocking board is not in my cards for the next week or so.

Since I haven’t been able to work or drive, I busied myself experimenting with the right-of-first-refusal gift I got for Christmas.

I tried a couple of ice cream recipes I found online but they were either too sweet or too rich. I took elements from several recipes and created a new one using a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream.

1 pint whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla (NOT imitation vanilla — yucky)
pinch or two of salt

Gently whisk the eggs and the milk together in a saucepan. Add the cream then add the vanilla, salt, and sugar. Stirring pretty constantly, cook over medium to low heat until thermometer reads between 160-170 degrees. The mixture should coat the back of a spoon. (Yes, you’re basically making custard.) Remove from heat and chill in fridge at least 12 hours.

The finished ice cream is a bit icier than the version I made with just cream or with a mixture of cream and half & half. But it is much more palatable. Especially with Oreos mixed in.

My kids went back to school today and things will be in a constant state of chaos until we can all sync our schedules and get after-school activities worked out. Translated, that means I haven’t knit a whole lot in the last few days. I did, however, draw Kat’s name as the winner of the blog contest I had last week. Congrats, Kat, and have fun knitting the Spring Things Shawl.

I also finally blocked a certain sweater that I finished knitting quite a while ago.

Look familiar?

Until I have the time to compose a post with proper photos and a description of the mods I made to the pattern, I’ll entertain you with another contest.

Both my kids (teenagers) are involved in fall activities at school. If you guess what those activities are, you can win some yummy Wasatch Watercolors roving dyed by Judy Jackson, a local fiber artist. Don’t spin? Don’t worry, I’ll find some other Utah goodie to send you.

Leave your guess in the comments and I’ll draw a winner Wednesday night.

Oh, and here are the visual aids to help you:

I have the enormous fortune to belong to an amazing Stitch ‘n Bitch group. As I’m sure you deduced from my Saturday post, our only male member died unexpectedly last week. It was difficult news to comprehend but made many of us take stock of how lucky we are to have our little bit of heaven every Tuesday night.

This past Tuesday, there was a birthday celebration for me, Heather, and Eileen. While we talked a lot about David, the mood remained festive and it was nice to share memories of him. There were treats, including an awesome Root Beer cake baked by Blog-Free Val, still-warm brownies from Jessamyn, and Gwen’s coconut meringue cookies. And, there were non-food presents, too:

Clockwise, starting at the top left . . .

• A fantastic orange (of course) lily from Gwen. She also gave me the Burt’s Bees hand creams and the cute tin of Atomic Fireball candies.
• Gorgeous red-orange (of course) Coopworth/alpaca roving from Margene
• In front of the roving is a cone of Habu silk that Miriam picked up for me in New York
• Next to the roving is an adorable, clever hand-sewn bag from Anne that contained the OnLine sock yarn positioned in front of it
• Blessed Juno soap, an organic cotton washcloth, and a skein of Opal sock yarn in a dreamy dark teal color from the soap queen herself
• Two balls of the new Kaffe Fassett Regia sock yarn from Heather in a wonderful blue color
• A ball of tweedy blue Trekking sock yarn (for which I have “a Plan”) from Cheryl
• A hank of orange (of course) Ball and Skein sock yarn from Margene
• A bar of Green & Black’s dark chocolate from Eileen (head over to Eileen’s blog and leave her some good wishes)
• And a totally out-of-the-blue, surprise gift from Beth (who mailed the package to Margene with instructions to deliver it to me at the party) consisting of some candy and a hand-knit and felted Hedgehog

Here are some better views of all the loveliness:

Thanks, everyone, for making the day special!